“Working class” kids have been stripped of the traditional places where they once developed cultural capital: the youth club, town hall, local library, or children’s centre. In the US, the richest families now spend seven times more on out of school enrichment than the poorest families, a much bigger gap than 40 years ago. All the data points to a similar gap in the UK. Given this, the role of schools as places of cultural and social as well as academic learning has become even more critical.

Dr Lee Elliot MajorChief Executive, Sutton Trust

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